Window
by BEN-Beyond the Elusive Nomads
Summary: The Doctor just wanted a day to himself, but instead he saw first hand what he gave up. What he lost. Alt!Ten/Rose, Ten/Rose, One-Shot


**Window**

-

The Doctor let out a heavy sigh as he lay on the crest of a particularly large hill and stared up at the light cerulean sky. He really loved this small planet, especially when he needed time to think, or to be alone. The wind carried the scent of lavender and apple grass and brushed against his over sensitive skin. The planet was completely made up or rolling hills adorned with a variety of flowers, but not a singe tree or rock. It was perfect.

He thought back to his trip with Christina de Souza and wondered why he turned down her offer, before mentally smacking himself. It only brought on pain, and after Rose, he didn't think he could take it any more, at least not in this body. He let out another sigh and let his eyes drift closed.

His eyebrows furrowed when he heard the sound of giggling and the fainter sound of the grass being separated. This was an uninhabited planet, or was supposed to be, despite its nice atmosphere. Its lack of edible vegetation, water, and livestock made it more of a sight seeing spot then a settling spot. He knew that in 10 years time it will be one of the most frequented tourist sight and he wanted to enjoy it while he could still be alone.

He stiffened slightly as he realized that the noises were coming towards him, and it sounded as if the people were trying to stifle their giggles. He opened his eyes and sat up, only to let out a yelp as something tackled his side and sent him tumbling over with a grunt. He quickly noticed that the something was actually two something's, and they were both smiling widely at him. He was struck, for a moment, at the similarities they shared with a certain blonde companion that he was just thinking about.

"Gotcha!" The small girl squealed in excitement, a large smile taking up half her face with her tongue peeking out over her teeth. She had long brown hair and soft brown eyes with freckles across the bridge of her nose and her cheeks.

"Huh?" The Doctor asked as he regained his senses. The girl began bouncing in excitement while the other something, a slightly-younger looking boy, got off of him and stood to the side, looking down at him in confusion.

"Why'd you change your outfit?" he asked curiously. His hair was lighter then the girls and his eyes were the same shade of brown. He looked eerily familiar, though. The little girl froze and tilted her head to the side as she, too, realized his clothes.

"Yeah, dad, why'd you change your outfit?" she asked, "huh? Why?"

"I think you're mistaken," the Doctor said slowly, "I'm not--."

"Jack! Donna! What are you doing to that poor man!?"

The Doctor froze as he recognized that voice, that tone. His hearts stopped for a moment before taking off at an unimaginable speed. The two kids took no notice and turned towards the direction of the voice. The girls eyes widened in horror as she leapt off of him and began apologizing frantically, her cheeks a bright red. The boy looked back at him and then over his shoulder back towards the voices origin.

"Oi! Dad, why're there two of yah?" he asked. The Doctor regained his motor functions and quickly sat up to see who they were talking too. He froze as he met the gazes of the kids parents.

"Rose?" he asked in surprise, "What…how?"

"Oh my god…" Rose whispered in surprise. Her hand was laced with the hand of his meta-crisis counterpart, who looked equally confused at the situation. Balanced on the meta-crisis' hip was a toddler with a shock of red hair and grey eyes who had to be at the most five years old.

"What?" the meta-crisis asked, his eyebrows furrowed and the Doctor was fairly positive it matched his expression exactly.

"What…how did you two get in this universe?" the Doctor asked, barely aware that the two children had run over to their parents and latched on to their legs, peeking out at him in curiosity.

"You left us here," Rose said slowly, "Or…did that not happen to you yet?"

"The more important question is: how come the walls of the universe haven't collapsed?" The meta-crisis asked slowly before pulling out a pair of glasses and slipping them on to inspect the world around him more closely, "This should be impossible!" Rose took the toddler from his arms and held her close to her chest while the meta-crisis got out a hollow metal square with a translucent blue hologram suspended in the middle from his pocket. He stared at it intently, and the Doctor quickly recognized it as-

"Is that the TARDISes computer?" he asked in interest. The meta-crisis looked up and nodded with pride.

"Yeah, after our TARDIS finished growing I managed to make this," he waved the screen slightly, "that way I don't have to run back to the TARDIS if there's something we need to check out."

"That's brilliant, why didn't I think of that?" The Doctor asked, pushing up from the ground before shaking his head, "wait, no, back on topic, why are you back in this universe?"

"What are you talkin' 'bout?" Rose asked, "We haven't left our universe." The two kids shared looks, as if they had come to a realization, before turning back to the Doctor. The Doctors mind seemed to realize what was going on just as the meta-crisis did.

"Oh…no way!" they both said before raising their eyebrows.

"This planet exists in both universes at the same time," the Doctor said quickly as he headed over to them, stopping a foot away, "Kind of like a…a venn diagram, there's one section that two separate things have in common. This must be where our universes overlap…but that should be impossible."

"I've learned to hate that word," Rose said dryly, "So. We're in two universes at once, then?"

"Yup," the Doctors answered, glancing at each other again in amusement. The Doctor let out a breath through his teeth and rubbed the back of his head as everything seemed to set in. And with it came the pain. He was seeing him with Rose, what he could have had, what he had given up. There was a tense silence as the wind continued to blow and the three continued to look at each other with varying emotions. Rose looked close to tears and his clone looked awkward, out of place. The Doctor felt like an intruder in their clearly happy lives.

"Maybe we should sit down?"

-

The three adults sat down on a red and white checkered sheet (courtesy of the meta-crisis Doctor) and watched as Jack and Donna ran around happily through the fields and burned off energy. Rose sat between the two Doctors with the toddler in her lap, idly complying with the girls tugs on her hands.

"How long has it been for you?" The Doctor asked, "I mean, it's obviously been a few years, but how long exactly?"

"Twelve years," Rose said with a small smile, "Got married an' everythin."

"Mostly because Jackie almost killed me when she found out Rose was pregnant," the clone joked, sharing a fond smile with Rose. The Doctor smiled slightly but couldn't stop the small stab of pain that accompanied it. The two didn't notice, to his relief, and he kept up his mask perfectly. The clone glanced over at him, "What about you? How long has it been?"

"Oh…a while," he said in a flippant manner, "Almost three months." He didn't notice their shared look and instead kept his attention focused on their children, who were now wrestling on the ground, "So, what's their names?" Rose smiled and quickly filled him in.

"The oldest girl's Donna," she said, "she's ten years old and a complete bundle of energy. Then there's Jack, who's seven. He's like a living book, spews out random facts every other second. And this," she ran her fingers through her toddlers hair, "Is Andrea, four years old. She's a perfect mixture of Donna and Jack."

"Then we have one on the way, five months in," the Clone said with a smile, "A boy. We're naming him Alan after Pete. When we told him he started crying."

"Mum didn't even cry when we named Andrea after her," Rose joked, "Though dad said she did after we left."

"How far along are you?" the Doctor asked, keeping up the pretense of happiness. He was happy for them, really he was, but it was in a bitter sweet sort of way. He briefly wondered if it was weird for him to be jealous of himself, in a sense.

It felt like he was in a dream.

"Oi! Dad!" Jack called, "Come play tag!" The Clone pushed himself up with ease and smiled over at them before hurrying over to the two who each waited with eager smiles and attacked him as soon as he was in their reach. There was a few seconds of silence before Rose spoke up.

"Are you still on your own?" she asked softly, running her fingers through Andrea's hair. The Doctor nodded quickly.

"Yeah, still just me. I worked with some people, but never taken any one on. Don't think I will." Rose gave him a long hard stare, causing a small bead of sweat to drip down his brow. This was so awkward, but he knew that he wouldn't give it up for the world. He wanted to hold her, to kiss her, to touch her, but he knew it would be slightly inappropriate. She was married after all. He quickly changed the subject, "So, what've you done? Still working with Torchwood?"

"Yeah, John is working there too," she responded quickly, "That's his official name back home, but I don't normally call him that. We're on vacation right now, course we can have a vacation whenever we want with the TARDIS." There was another pause, and Rose sighed softly, "Donna, she's got two hearts."

"Yeah, I could hear that," the Doctor said, "Alan does too." Rose sighed and bit down on her lip in worry. He was half tempted to hug her, but he restrained himself.

"I know. We're not sure what that means, though. Jack and Andrea are like John, human body, Time Lord mind. We're not sure what to make of it; we just assume it has to do with genetics."

"That's probably your best bet," the Doctor agreed, "Cause even though John's human, he still has Time Lord DNA. Looks like you've started up your own little species." They both laughed feebly and then silence wrapped around them again. They watched John as he chased his kids around, obviously letting them win, grinning his manic grin. This continued for a while, they weren't sure how long, but Rose finally sighed and stood with a silently sleeping Andrea cradled in her arms. John just looked at her and seemed to know what she was thinking.

"Come on, let's go," he instructed to the kids, pulling them up to their feet. Rose walked over and handed him their daughter carefully. While John headed to their TARDIS, she turned and walked back to the Doctor.

"Can you do somthin' for me?" She asked softly, staring into his eyes.

"Anything," He hadn't meant to say it like that. She just smiled and fiddled with his suit, straightening it out before looking up in to his eyes.

"Find someone. I don't like thinking of you out here on your own. Everyone needs someone, even a mighty Time Lord," The Doctor just nodded, but made no verbal sign he was listening. Rose frowned slightly, "I want you to promise me, Doctor! Please." The Doctor was silent for another heartbeat, before he sighed and caved in.

"I promise," he responded, crossing his fingers in his pocket. Rose visibly relaxed and smiled at him. She leaned foreword and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, lasting no more then a second, before backing away from him and towards where he assumed they parked their TARDIS.

"Take care of yourself," she said with a smile. The Doctor watched as she turned and walked away, waiting until she disappeared from sight to allow himself to break down. He let out an angry breath and was surprised when he felt tears begin to flow down his cheeks. If lying to her made her happy, then he would lie to her, because really, he didn't have the heart to tell her he didn't want anyone but her.

-

**How did you like it? This is my first Doctor Who related story I've written (or more specifically, posted). Tell me what you think and what I need to work on! Was mostly to help me 1) get used to writing DW, 2) get over my writing block.**

**B.E.N.**


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